I thought coming into this documentary that I would learn alot about the School of the Americas and its effects on Latin America, but what I got was mostly emotional gush until the last 10 minutes of the video. The documentary was poorly produced and used emotional appeals in order to condem the School of the Americas, which I think was its fatal flaw. It was very biased and failed to give any real facts until the very end of the documentary.
The priest in this piece was right in opposing the school but came off as misguided. I thought it was humorous how outraged he was at serving jail time for trespassing on military base property and performing various stunts. I have no problem with civil disobedience, but don't be surprised when they slam you on the ground and make you do time in a federal prison. What was especially poignant was how most of the protesters were older white people that came off as self-aggrandizing, looking for an opportunity to jump on a cause. Maybe I am over judging them but it seemed really disconnected that no Central or Southern Americans were there.
Personally, I think this training facility should be shut down. We as people of the US can't wash our hands of this because we gave them human rights training. With empowerment comes responsibility and when that greater responsibility is dashed by the empowered, they must be made to account. None of the graduates that went on to murder civilians were made to account for their actions. I thought it was disgraceful how we excused ourselves of the atrocities because we gave them human rights training. No matter how great the technical aspect of the program was, the emperical evidence is clear that it produced monsters. Especially damning was the use of torture techniques that we could never condone within our own borders and it shows how history has repeated itself.
In all, I would recommend NOT watching this if you are looking for substance. Although if you liked any of the Michael Moore movies, you will probably enjoy this.